Hi friends,
I hope this message finds you and your families doing well. I’ll start this week’s newsletter by sharing a few great things that lifted our spirits this past week.
First, we can’t be any more grateful for your support here at Powisset Farm. Our favorite thing to hear is that your family is enjoying the food we have distributed over the past few weeks. Behind those masks, we hope you are smiling as much as we are when you get your weekly box of veggies, dairy, breads, meats, and sweet treats.
Second, we are SO excited in your interest in our CSA programs. We truly believe that this is the best way to access fresh, tasty, and trustworthy food for your families, and it is where we direct most of our growing efforts. We are leaps and bounds ahead of CSA sales compared to past years at this time. This allows us to focus the most possible energy on growing the best possible food and community for you. If you have not signed up yet, we hope you’ll consider choosing us as your grocer of choice! We are still on track to grow some great veggies and we expect it to be a full house. We don’t want you to miss out! If you don’t already know, we offer a large pick-your-own operation for our CSA customers in addition to your favorite (and some new!) staple vegetables. Here, your family will be able to walk our fields in search of strawberries, hot peppers, cherry tomatoes, herbs, flowers, and more! Please share our mission with your friends and sign up here!
Also, don’t forget about our meat CSA shares. Trustees Grown beef, goat, lamb, and pork is locally and sustainably raised and will look and taste better than anything you can get in the grocery store. Your share will be packed (you can choose many of the items yourself!) and ready to pick up, contact-free if necessary.
One last BIG update here at the farm was recently announced. Teams across the Trustees led an effort spearheaded by our Associate Ag Director, Liz Green, to make our farm even greener. If you remember, our produce wash and pack station moved from upstairs into the garages beneath the barn last year. We are now able to improve our infrastructure even more because of a recently awarded grant to overhaul the insulation and add a proper compressor for our walk-in cold storage. This means that we will not only have a better functioning system, but that it will save a huge amount of electricity. Thank you Liz, the MA Department of Agricultural Resources, and the many others for helping us achieve greater efficiency across the board!
| Since the CSA is still over a month away, don’t forget that our online store is still one of the best ways to find local produce and other goods during this difficult time. This week, I have my eye on some Trustees Grown hamburgers with Contoocook Creamery cheddar, maple-glazed Two Farmers Farm carrots, and some fried Sparrow Arc Farm potatoes. As a reminder, the online store opens for shopping on Mondays at 6:00pm and closes on Thursdays at noon. Pickups are from 10:00am-noon on Saturdays right here at Powisset farm. All you have to do is pull up to our barn and we will put your packed items right into your trunk. If you are looking to shop with SNAP or HIP benefits, please send one of us an email and we will be more than happy to work with you to find a safe payment and pickup method. |
Powisset Farm is still closed to the public (except for order pick-ups). Keep an eye on the Trustees website to stay up to date with the latest property re-openings and programs. Even in your own backyard, try to take some time to appreciate the unwavering beauty of the world around us. Try researching about that bird or critter that you haven’t been able to identify. Take a shot at diagnosing your own lawn care issues; do you need lime, a different seed variety? Even better, use this opportunity to put in your very own vegetable garden! I first tried my hand with vegetables in some little pots and it is a total blast. If you already know you enjoy gardening, maybe think about expanding or putting in some raised beds. All it takes is a sunny spot, a few pieces of lumber from the hardware store, some bags of top soil, and some bags of compost. This will give you enough room to keep your kitchen stocked with fresh herbs all summer! Don’t hesitate to ask us if you have any home-garden questions. If we can’t answer them ourselves, we’ll probably be able to point you in the right direction.
As always, we hope to see you here at the farm soon. Your families are in our thoughts during this wild experience and we are proud to continue our mission of spreading the word about sustainable local agriculture. Please share any thoughts or experiences with us, we are always trying to improve the way we do things.
Your friend and farmer,
Jeff Hoodlet
